4.30.2009

Image: An unemployed man in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area hunts for work today.

Courthouse Starbucks, Arlington, Va.--Though researchers call the H1N1 influenza virus “relatively mild,” the infectious disease outbreak reached Washington, D.C., this week when one employee at the World Bank was diagnosed and treated after returning from Mexico City.

Today, the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, upgraded the infectious disease threat level from 4 (panic) to 5 (one step short of pandemic). Subsequently, Vice President Joe Biden told media he would advise family members against taking public transportation such as U.S. subway systems—and to stay away from confined spaces (such as nightclubs, concerts, raves and underground sex parties).

But, as one local biotech company rushes to produce a new synthetic vaccinia, there is an upside—many area residents remain unemployed.